Layer3 TV Plays The Name Game

Layer3 TV, the stealthy “next generation” cable operator started up by two vets out of the cable realm, is still being hush-hush about its product, strategy and precise roll out date, but hints at what its resulting service might be called are starting to appear.

As spotted by The Donohue Report, the Denver-based startup filed an application for the trademark “Galileo TV,” an apparent homage to the Italian physicist, mathematician, engineer, astronomer, philosopher and all around long-deceased smart guy. And maybe it’ll be the brand name of Layer3 TV’s IP-powered multiscreen video service that’s expected to launch later this year.

Or not. Like most companies that are developing new products, Layer3 TV will probably be making a batch of relatively inexpensive intent-to-use trademark filings in the weeks and months to come so it can create a solid list of name from which it can safely pick. According to the USPTO, Layer3 TV filed its application for Galileo TV on March 4.

Dish Network, you might recall, filed an application for the “NuTV” trademark, a hint that it might be the name used for its OTT-TV service for cord-cutters. As we know now, the name they went with, Sling TV, was hiding out in the open the whole time.

Layer3 TV, which recently launched a new version of its Web site, still isn’t revealing much, but in a tongue-in-cheek kind of way.

"We don't comment on our trademark filings," said Eric Kuhn, Layer3 TV's head of marketing. "But Galileo did usher in the next generation of science which forever changed the way we think about the world."

Will Layer3 TV change the way we think about TV? We’ll see. With services like Sling TV, the just-launched PlayStation Vue service, and the constant swirl of rumors about Apple’s plans, it seems to be a popular goal these days, anyway.